I AM: Movie Review From director of Ace Ventura Pet Detective, Liar, Liar, and Bruce Almighty, Tom Shaydac tells his story of having it all and letting go it all go after a near death experience brings him to the realization that his life wasn’t contributing to the world in the way he wanted. In this film he sets out to ask, “What’s wrong with our world and what can we do about it. Most importantly what can we do about it?” And receive the answers from today’s top insightful thinkers.

Well here’s what’s wrong.

“We tell ourselves stories in order to live. Science is just a story.” – Lynne McTaggart, author of The Field. The film touches on other ways in which things are wrong with our world by way of our western societal themes of Separation and Competition. We are born to be a Consumer. “You’re job is not to be a citizen but a consumer.” “Wealth and happiness are synonyms.” – Chris Jordan, photographer. Loneliness

“Materialism is a pathway to happiness has made us loose our communal tendencies.” – Dacher Keltner, Professor of Psychology, UC Berkeley.

Here is what’s right. Democracy within Nature “We are hard wired for a compassionate response for the trouble of others.” – Marc Ian Barasch, Author of “Field Notes on the Compassionate Life.” Our Heart is Smart. The new scientific story is that we really are physiologically interconnected.

What can we do about it? LOVE Love is the basic answer presented in the film with some role model examples of Martin Luthar King, Gandhi and Mother Teresa. Of course public peace assemblies against the “machine” is part of what we can do about it but it has to be more than that. This is always my issue with these documentaries, is that they never really posse new actionable alternatives. I think the better question that should have been posed in this film is “How do we make real change now?” Like changing the system from within. Changing what we have and creating a new system. Then next best question is what does that look like and how do we create that? The questions shouldn’t stop and should continually be answered through experimentation. Not only do we need to assemble in public peaceful and love but also we have to combine that with a new next level action. So I ask you, what is that? What can we do now that’s new to make that real change we need now?